Picadillo refers to the Spanish word, “picar,” which means “to mince” or “to chop”. A picadillo can be any combination of meat and vegetables chopped up and finished with a variety of spices and seasonings. I really enjoy the way Cubans make their picadillo as they add hash browns fried in pork lard or rendered bacon fat to soften and add flavor. A while back I was given a wonderful dish reminiscent of picadillo at my friend Abby’s house. She topped it with a fried egg and served it to me with flat bread. It was swoon worthy! So to accompany this dish, I made my family flat bread. A recipe I will share in a future post 😉 This dish can also be served topped with a fried egg which would make it that much more RICO!!
Cuban-Style Picadillo
Ingredients:
- 3 medium sized potatoes, chopped
- 2 tbls pork lard, or 4 pieces bacon cooked down to render the fat (add the bacon into the picadillo if using this method)
- 1lb ground beef
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 sweet pepper, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tomatoes, skins removed and pureed (or small can tomato sauce)
- 1 cup beef broth, preferably homemade
- 1-2 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
- 2 tbls tomato paste (or ketchup)
- 2 tbls red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup green olives, sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- In a cast iron skillet, heat 2 tbls pork lard.
- Add the potatoes and brown. Remove and set aside. Save the fat for another day.
- In the same skillet, brown the ground beef.
- When the beef is about half way cooked, add the onion, pepper, and garlic. Cook until the remaining of the beef is cooked and the onions are translucent.
- Add the tomato sauce, beef broth, green olives and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the chili powder, tomato paste, vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the picadillo has thickened to your liking.
- Once it has thickened to your liking add the hash browns back in and warm for a few minutes.
- Serve over steamed white/brown rice.
This dish is excellent with flat bread and a green salad from the garden.
Buen Provecho!
Looks delicious. With an egg……..
Que buena pinta tiene esta receta. Se ve deliciosa. Un saludo
Muy Rico!!! I would clean that plate in no time 😉
Oh Diana You are killing me slowly! I was just talking about how the only thing I missed about living in So.Fl. was the food! We had this awesome Cuban place with in walking distance and I missed the food so much! I think I will go make myself a Cuban for breakfast now and try this for dinner this weekend!
Thank you!
~Kelli
…lovely….this reminds me of mom's picadillo but it is has raisins and red bell pepeprs…so good..
Welcome back! This looks delicious. I can not wait for the flat bread post! -Tien 🙂
wow love your Spain snaps you have to be the coolest family ever why don't you all move to NC!!
love ya and love picadillo
Rebecca
Just gorgeous!
Cuban food is so close to my own home cooking. This is comfort food for me.
Great dish! Sounds and looks like true comfort food… 🙂
Just looking at every ingredient, I know I would love this.
This looks so good! I love anything with green olives in it especially!
Oh my Puerto Rican husband is going to absolutely die when he comes home to this today. 🙂 And the egg on top will push him on into Heaven.
I had another version of Picadillo a few weeks ago, and it had a lot of cumin in it. No?
Is this similar to Ropa Vieja?
Well, the seasonings may be a bit similar, however, ropa vieja is made with shredded beef.